Why Social Media Alone Cannot Sustain Your Online Business

Building a business on rented land? That's essentially what businesses and brands do when they rely solely on social media for growth.There's no doubt social media has become a crucial platform for businesses to build their online presence and connect with their audience. However, heavily depending on social media alone  to build your online brand or business can be a risky strategy and here's why;

• LACK OF CONTROL: When you build your business on social media platforms, you are essentially renting space on someone else's property. Platforms evolve and your content can be moved or restricted at any moment. This means you have limited control over your online presence and customer/client engagement 
• PLATFORM INSTABILITY: Social media platforms can experience technical issues, outages or even shut down entirely, this can leave brands without a voice and social media communities disconnected.
• DATA OWNERSHIP: when your business or brand relies on social media alone, it becomes difficult leveraging customer insights, email addresses or other valuable information to build meaningful relationships and to promote your products or services.
• LIMITED ENGAGEMENT: Social media platforms are designed for breadth and not depth. You are competing with cat videos, photos, other news feeds and endless distractions making it challenging for your product or services to gain the right visibility.

DIVERSIFYING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE 

To mitigate these risks, consider the following options or strategies:

• Build an email list and nurture relationships through regular newsletters 
• Create a blog or website to share in-depth content about your brand to establish your brand's voice 
• Invest in community-building tools such as membership sites like Patreon for creators etc.
• Drive people to your owned channels like website or email list using social media

By diversifying your online presence for your brand you'll create a more stable online business.

Remember, social media is just one piece of the puzzle, don't let years of effort go to waste by putting all your eggs in one basket.